Royals Rumblings - News for May 3, 2016
The Royals aren't concerned with their recent slump.
Right-hander Kris Medlen sees a team ready to get on a roll.
"Everyone here feels the same way as they did last year, from what I can tell," Medlen said. "Teams are going to have losing streaks. It's just that ours came early. The Braves won the National League East in 2013 and lost eight straight, and they still won 96 games. "We've got some guys who really haven't hit like they normally do, and once that happens, we can run off a streak. This is a talented team. No doubt about it. Right now, we're kind of getting great hitting one game and not pitching the next. Just a little out of sync. But we're going to be fine."
In his notes from last Friday, David Lesky of Baseball Prospectus Kansas City thinks Lorenzo Cain's timing is off.
I mentioned this on the Baseball Tonight pregame show on 810 the other night, but it seems like a big issue with Cain has simply been timing. He’s not hitting more fly balls or less ground balls than in years past. He’s getting the same number of infield hits as he has in the past. He even is hitting the ball moderately hard (lower hard hit percentage, but his soft hit percentage isn’t crazy high). What he is doing is getting behind on fastballs and ahead on off speed stuff, which is obviously a problem. The biggest thing I noticed is that he’s hitting more balls to the opposite field and pulling the ball more than last year, but he’s hit the ball up the middle at a rate that’s 10 percent lower than last season. When you look at the strikeouts and when you just watch him bat, it’s clear this is completely a timing issue for him. And I tell you this because I wanted to give you some good news. Timing issues can be fixed.
Lee Judge thinks defensive shifts have a lot to do with saving face.
So depending on the circumstances, a shift might be a bad idea, but an infield coach that uses shifts can still cover his rear end. The shift might have been foolish, considering the guy at the plate and the guy on the mound, but if the hitter beats the shift, the pitcher is the one who looks bad. And there’s a whole lot more rear-end-covering going on in the big leagues than most people realize.
A bad infield coach might decide to use a shift because he doesn’t want to look like he’s behind the times. In that sense, fans might want to give some credit to Royals infield coach Mike Jirschele. He’s not using shifts mindlessly. The Royals are shifting when they think it makes sense, and they still have one of the best defenses in the big leagues.
Should the Royals sign free agent Tim Lincecum?
Royals catching prospect Chase Vallot is listed among the prospects of the week by MLB Pipeline.
First baseman Ryan O'Hearn was promoted to AA Northwest Arkansas.
Kauffman Stadium wins an online poll for best baseball stadium.
Pablo Sandoval will get shoulder surgery.
How we can improve projections with exit velocities.
Justin Verlander and Kate Upton are engaged.
Colin Cowherd and Jason Whitlock will host a "PTI-type" show on FS1.
Leicester becomes the most improbable champion in professional sports history.
A new single-terminal airport is in the works for Kansas City International.
The United States has a ridiculous surplus of cheese.
A sequel to Space Jam, starring Lebron James, is happening.
Your song of the day is Soundgarden with "The Day I Tried to Live."